Egypt is most grateful to the Indian government for its efforts in organizing the New Delhi informal ministerial meeting in early September 2009 to discuss the process of the Doha Round. The three working days will be particularly important for the conclusion of the Doha Agenda. It is heartening to see so many representatives from the different parties attending this ministerial meeting.  

Egypt would like to stress that a swift conclusion of the Doha Round has become even more crucial due to the economic crisis. Indeed, the Doha Round represents the best guarantee against the rise of protectionism and its potential detrimental effects on 20 years of liberalization reform. A failure of the Doha Round would also result in a loss of the ordinary net welfare gains which would have arisen from a negotiated reduction of trade distortions. Therefore, Egypt will do its utmost to ensure a successful conclusion of the Doha Round.

Egypt emphasises, however, that the objective of the Doha Round is development maximization and not trade liberalization as such. As stated in the Addis Ababa Declaration, development outcomes in each of the negotiating tracks remain the raison d’être of the Doha Round for Africa. This means that tangible development content must be evident within each negotiating track and in the overall outcome. Thus, Egypt believes that the Doha Round should remain ambitious and aim for strong liberalization that is favourable to developing countries.  

In the framework of the negotiations, it is important to bear in mind that agriculture is the main engine of the Doha Development Agenda and that the outcome of the  negotiations on agriculture will actually determine the level of ambition in other areas.  Moreover, given the impact of the global economic and financial crisis on developing and least developed countries, special and differential treatment is of vital importance to enable them to implement their commitments and obligations. With respect to the liberalization of services, Egypt calls upon our trading partners, particularly developed countries, to undertake meaningful market access commitments in sectors and Modes of supply with special regard to those that are of export interest to developing countries, such as Mode 4.

Egypt further emphasizes that in preserving the developmental dimension in all negotiated issues, members need to maintain a multilateral, inclusive, and transparent negotiation process. Egypt notes that the proposed two-track approach to negotiations may compromise the developmental dimension of the Round and may lead to conflicting understandings of the latest draft modalities texts of Agriculture and NAMA.  At this late point in time, the focus of the negotiations should be to conclude the modalities in Agriculture and NAMA by building upon the progress achieved so far and by avoiding the selective re-opening of issues stabilized in the last draft modalities texts of Agriculture and NAMA.

Finally, Egypt wishes to stress that the importance of the Aid for Trade initiative has increased since the economic crisis.  Indeed, it has to be ensured that responses to the crisis do not undercut the support for Aid for Trade and on the contrary, the international community must enhance Aid for Trade’s resources to compensate for the loss of both trade tax revenues and existing production in developing countries. Moreover, developing countries should be assisted so that they may take full advantage of the global recovery.